


odd day in, odd night out

by jack_inaboxx



Series: crack in the glass [13]
Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:35:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24562480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jack_inaboxx/pseuds/jack_inaboxx
Summary: Doubts are overrated, but persistent.
Series: crack in the glass [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1774129





	odd day in, odd night out

( Inspired by Human by Christina Perri )

There’s a sort of desperation that you feel when you’re running from the place you used to call home. 

That desperation returns to him from time to time, in a scuffle in a back alley, when he missteps and nearly misses a landing, when he says the wrong thing at the wrong time, when he sees someone he might have known, once upon a time. It buries it’s thorny roots in his heart and lends a vicious determination to his movements, even the gentle ones. 

On occasion it will hit him in the quiet hours of the morning, barely past midnight, or just before dawn, sending him up to the rooftops to try to outrun it. 

One misstep; that’s all it takes. 

He misses a ledge; he falls. 

For a moment it’s like time stops; he sees the ledge, can see where he should have moved differently. Glass is falling around him, shattered, shattering in the air; like rain. This is when he realizes that he doesn’t need to be afraid. 

He spreads his arms, and falls, falls, down and down; feels the wind rushing in his ears. 

He never hits the ground. 

Waking with a jolt, he feels cold, his skin crawling and wracked with shivers. The sun is just starting to come up. 

He watches the sky for some time before he can bring himself to climb out of bed, to get dressed for the day ahead of him. He feels ill, too cold and too hot and fragile, like he’ll break into a million pieces with one wrong step. 

Jaylee notices, of course, and so does Sage, when she comes in. They don’t say anything, though, for which he’s grateful. That might make it real.

He falls asleep at his desk, with a screwdriver in hand and one of his drones in front of him. Neither of them wake him up, but he finds a blanket draped over him when he wakes, some time later. The shop is quiet, the usual music off and the lights dimmer than normal.

For a time, he just closes his eyes and reminds himself that they’re why he does what he does; why he can’t stop. Because nobody else does what they do at night, nobody else sees the problem with the world. 

So he stands up, and he folds the blanket, turns the light up and puts on their best power song; and he doesn’t laugh, but he smiles. 

And that’s enough. That’s all he needs.

After all, all of them are only human; all they can do is their best. And _damned_ if they aren’t going to do that, at _least_. 

Tonight, he’ll go out, and he’ll _fly_.


End file.
